Weekly News - Wednesday 13th December 2023

Christmas Wishes

We would like to send our heartfelt best wishes to you all for a peaceful, joyful Christmas. 

It was magical to join together this morning for our annual Upper School Carol Service at All Saints Church. We reflected on the importance of the Christmas story and message, listening to Year 6 children deliver bible readings and prayers. The orchestra played beautifully and the Junior Choir, Senior Choir and Chamber Choir all sang for us, followed by a massed choir performance, for which several members of staff joined in. Special congratulations and thanks to Hana H (Year 6) for her exquisite Once In Royal David's City solo performance. This was a meaningful, fitting way to end the first term of the year.

 

Chamber Choir Reaches Final Of National Choral Competition!

We are absolutely delighted to report that the St. Helen's College Chamber Choir has made it through to the finals of the Barnado's National Choral Competition on Tuesday 5th March! This is such a wonderful achievement for our elite singers, who recorded two songs for the competition: John Rutter's 'Colours of Christmas' and Linn Marsh's 'Believe'. They will be learning new songs to perform at the final in March and we will all be rooting for them! If you would like to hear the songs which secured their place in the final, you can do so here.

ABRSM Exam Results 

Congratulations to all of our musicians who have recently passed ABRSM examinations. It is, once again, an impressive list of achievements.

Mark D	5G	Piano	Grade 2	Pass
Pavan S	6L	Singing	Grade 2	Distinction
Verity S	6H	Singing	Grade 2	Pass
Karter P	5G	Piano	Initial	Merit
Aran P	4T	Piano	Grade 3	Pass
Aanya P	5G	Piano	Grade 4	Pass
Zoe F	3B	Piano	Grade 2	Pass

Carols Around The Christmas Tree

We were thrilled to see so many of you at the Carols Around The Tree event on Monday, and it was truly joyful to hear children, staff and parents sing with such gusto. When the St. Helen's College community comes together it is always a very special time and this was no exception. Thank you to Soula for the hot chocolate and mulled wine, and to the parents who brought sweet treats to sell for the PA. If you would like to see a video of the singing, you can do so here. 

 

Father Christmas Visits!

Monday was an extremely exciting day for our Ducklings and Lower School children: Christmas party day! The children wore their own clothes and played games, and the day was topped off with a visit from Father Christmas, who brought along a gift for every child. He visited Ducklings first and then, at Lower School, the new library was transformed into Santa's Grotto and each class visited him to share their Christmas wishes and receive their present. You can see more photographs of the Lower School children enjoying the run-up to Christmas on our Galleries page here.

 

Santa Dash

Also on Monday, many of the children at Upper School chose to take part in a Santa Dash in Court Park. Wearing Santa hats, antlers, elf hats or - in some cases - entire Santa outfits, pupils and staff ran around the perimeter of the park. It was an enjoyable half hour of fresh air fun!

 

 

 

 

Christmas Tree Decoration Competition

So many children throughout the  school brought in home made decorations for our Christmas trees this year that it was extremely hard to choose winners! In the end, the honours went to:

Robins - Mayilan P
Wrens - Nishay A
Owls - Cameron G
Kingfishers - Oliver N
1C - Callum B
1R - Annalivia B
2R - Aarlen J
2H - Adam H
3B - Tansy M
3M - Emerald S
4B - Alyssa P
4T - Mahi B
5G - Shanaya P
5R - Inaaya S
6H - Arjun C
6L - Tiya T

Well done to all our budding artists!

 

Year 3 & 4 Trip to Peter Pan

On Tuesday our final Christmas trip of the term saw the Year 3 and 4 children travel to The Rose Theatre in Kingston-Upon-Thames to see a production of Peter Pan. They thoroughly enjoyed the outing!

Roman Day 

Year 3 had great fun during their themed Roman Day on Monday (pictured here ready for battle!) They took part in three workshops throughout the day, designing shields, making Roman coins using clay, and finally a Lego building workshop where they created aqueducts, villas and even the Colosseum! 

 

 

 

Ducklings And Nursery Entry - September 2024

If you have a child who is eligible for entry into Ducklings or Nursery in September 2024, and you have not yet registered them with us, please do so as soon as possible by completing our online registration form. Places will be allocated in early/mid January for both entry points.

Looking Ahead

As always, please take the opportunity over the holidays to check your child's uniform and equipment and to repair or replace anything as necessary, to ensure that they have all they need for next term. You can check the uniform and equipment list here. Please, please, please make sure that all items of uniform and equipment are clearly named!

It is often very cold during January, February and even March, so please help the children to remember their coats, woolly hats, gloves and scarves.

The spring term menu has been posted to the website and can be seen here.

First Week Of Term

Monday 8th - Friday 12th January - 5G swimming all week
Wednesday 10th January - Nursery entry meetings (for 2024 entry)
Wednesday 10th January - Year 5 transfer meetings with Ms Drummond
Thursday 11th January - Nursery entry meetings (for 2024 entry)